At common law, the prosecution were generally prohibited from mentioning the accused's bad character or prior convictions.[1]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN BAD CHARACTER The Accused's Bad Character At common law, the prosecution were generally prohibited from mentioning the accused's bad character or prior convictions.1 It is undoubtedly not competent for the prosecution to adduce evidence tending to show that the accused has been guilty of criminal acts other than those covered by the indictment, for the purpose of leading to the conclusion that the accused is a person likely from his criminal conduct or character to have committed the offence for which he is being tried.2 The argument has always been that there is considerable risk that bad character is accorded much more weight than that relevance warrants. As such its prejudicial effect may well outweigh its probative value and the jury, with little experience in assessing such matters, should be prevented from hearing about previous convictions.3 That was supported when the Law Commission4 commissioned research which showed that knowledge of previous convictions may prejudice a jury or magistrates unfairly against the defendant. Mike Redmayne's study considered the usual justifications for the exclusionary rule, namely irrelevance or the disproportionate and prejudicial impact on the jury. The conclusion was after reviewing the psychological research on character and statistical data on recidivism, that those with previous convictions are much more

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Concept of criminal liability - revision notes.

Module 3 - Concept of criminal liability MENS REA - Guilty Mind ACTUS REUS - Act Done Mens Rea and NO Actus Reus = No Criminal Liability NO Mens Rea and Actus Reus = Strict Criminal Liability Basic criminal procedures Criminal: - * Arrested and charged by the police * CPS * Appear in Magistrates Court at 1st opportunity. Preliminary hearing (committal proceedings) The Defendant pleads guiltily or not guilty. Magistrates set a date for next hearing. * A date set for sentence or subsequent trial. Bail conditions set or rejected. Legal aid may be given. Magistrates may throw the case out because there is no case to answer. There are 3 criminal cases: - . Summary - Only ever heard in Magistrates Court 2. Trial Either Way - 1861 OAPA s47 ABH / Mode of trial hearing 3. Indictable - Serious offences heard in Magistrates then Crown The main functions of an Appeal court is to: - * Uphold the decision * Overturn the decision * Substitute a lower sentence * Substitute a lower offence * Order a retrial Judicial Precedent Law can be made in a court or be passed by Parliament. R v R 1991. This is a good example 1956 SOA Criminal Liability . THEFT ACT 1968 s1 "A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention to permanently deprive the other of it; and 'theft' and 'steal' shall be construed

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The aim of this project is to explore and analyse the role of the victim during criminal proceedings. The project aims at analyzing the interaction of the victims with the constituent elements of the criminal justice system ie. the police, lawyers and cou

* Table Of Cases . Bhagwant v. Commissioner of Police, AIR 1985 SC 1285. 2. Bodhisattvwa Gautam v. Subhra Chakraborty, AIR 1996 SC 922. 3. Challa Ramakonda Reddy v. State, AIR 1989 Andhra Pradesh 235. 4. Delhi Domestic Working Women's Forum v. Union of India, (1995)1 SCC 14. 5. Gudalure M.J Cherian v. Union of India, (1995) Supp.(3) SCC 387. 6. Hari Kishan and State of Haryana v. Sukhbir Singh, AIR 1988 SC 2127. 7. Kasturi Lal v. State of UP, AIR 1965 SC 1039. 8. Pandit Paramanand Kaara v. Union of India, AIR 1989 SC 2039. 9. Rudal Shah v. State of Bihar, AIR 1983 SC 1086. 0. Sebastian M. Hongray v. Union of India, AIR 1984 SC 1026. 1. State of Punjab v. Gurmeet Singh, AIR 1996 SC 1393. * Table Of Statutes . Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. 2. Constitution of India, 1950. 3. Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. 4. Indian Penal Code, 1860. 5. Probation of Offenders Act, 1958. * Introduction "For too long, the law has centred its attention more on the rights of the criminal than on the victims of crime. It is high time we reversed this trend and put the highest priority on the victims and potential victims" - President Gerald R. Ford1 The available historical work in the field of criminal law relating to the role of the victim in criminal proceedings reveals a steady evolution away from the "private," or individual, sphere to the "public" or societal one.

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Personalism-impact on victims and how Restorative justice conference can balance the interest of victims and the public.

Introduction There are many different definitions of crime. One is as in the current justice system, which views crime as an act or omission that the law makes punishable. The other system, which has been increasingly popular in recent years, is restorative justice, which perceives crime as 'an injury of people and relationships' (Zehr, 1990) rather than merely a violation of law and social norms. Due to these conceptual differences, they take different approaches in response to crime. The existing system highlights the retributive and punitive domain; it intends to establish blame on offenders and make offenders repay their debt to society by punishment. The system is more offender-oriented and its focus is the past rather than the future. Besides establishing blames, it tends to give less attention on future-oriented concerns like how to repair the damages caused by the crime and how future recurrences can be prevented. It has been argued that the existing system places excessive emphasis on the past and is less constructive to victim, offenders and the society. From the restorative justice perspective, crime is viewed as social conflicts within the society. Restorative justice system was designed to restore social harmony and repair the damages of social conflicts. It begins with repairing the harm suffered by victims and assisting the reformation of offenders. It

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Discussing Homicide - constructive manslaughter.

HOMICIDE 3. MANSLAUGHTER - CONSTRUCTIVE Although there is only one offence of manslaughter, it can be committed in two ways: voluntarily and involuntarily Now, when we speak of voluntary manslaughter, in fact the defendant has been charged with murder but he pleads manslaughter because there is a mitigating factor such as provocation or diminished responsibility which will permit a jury to bring in the lesser verdict of manslaughter. This is important because with murder a life sentence is mandatory, whilst a conviction for manslaughter permits a judge to impose any sentence he likes - from life imprisonment to an absolute discharge. On the other hand, involuntary manslaughter is a type of manslaughter with which a defendant may be charged. In other words, it is a crime in its own right; and please take note: throughout this and the next lecture, when I speak of manslaughter, I am referring to involuntary manslaughter. OK, so let's go! There is good news and bad news. The good news is that we can skip over the actus reus of manslaughter because it is the same as for murder. So, the way in which manslaughter differs from murder (and voluntary manslaughter) is in its mens rea. The bad news is that the mens rea aspect is a bit of a monkey. Anyway, the easy bit first: defined in very general terms, the mens rea of manslaughter is anything other than intention to kill or

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Female Genitals Mutilations

INTRODUCTION " If your daughter has not been excised...No man in the village will marry her. It is an obligation. We have done it, we do it, and we will continue to do it...She has no choice. I decide. Her viewpoint is not important." 1 A father from the Ivory Coast said this phrase to the New York Times. That phrase is not uncommon among parents who exercise Female Genital Mutilation. This 42 words phrase clearly explained that even if FGM is an act of violence against women and girls and also violate human rights, it is still a cultural tradition, deeply rooted in religious. Hence, until today, not many choose to deviate from the norm because much social pressure will follow as consequence. Different people have different views2 about FGM.3 OVERVIEW OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION What is FGM? Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is also called Female Circumcision (FC). 4 FGM comprises of all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural, religious or other non- therapeutic reasons.5 There are three broad types of FGM.6 The mildest form of FGM, clitoridectomy is the removal or amputation of all or part of the clitoris,7 while excision includes the removal of the entire clitoris and the cutting of labia minora.8 The most extreme form of FGM is infibulation, the removal of all

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Law of Rape

The Law Of Rape: By Mohamad Ismail Mohamad Yunus The Historical Conception of Rape. Historically, the law of rape was concerned particularly with theft of virginity, reflecting a preoccupation with the protection of virgins from rape, abduction and forced marriage.1 In the twelfth century, Glanvill wrote: "A woman (virgin) who suffers in this way must go, soon after the deed is done, to the nearest village and there show to trustworthy men the injury done to her, and any effusion of blood there may be."2 Later, in the thirteenth century, Bracton said: "The rape of virgins is a crime imputed by a woman to the man by whom she says she has been forcibly ravished against the King's peace." 3 Eventually in 1275, the first Statute of Westminister appears to have provided that the ravishment of any woman (virgin or non-virgin) was an offence and in 1285 the second Statute of Westminister turned this into a capital offence,4 remaining so until the nineteenth century.5 The Definition and Scope of Rape. This part will focus mainly on the English law of rape, its relationship with other sexual offences6 and the options for law reform within the present framework of the law. In England, until 1976 there was no statutory definition of rape. Section 1 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 simply provided: "It is felony for a man to rape a woman." However, this provision has

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The media's perspective on crime and the resultant fear of crime.

Introduction: Media discourse is sutured with crime. Crime consumes an enormous amount of media space as both entertainment and news. Much of our information about the nature and extend of crime comes to us via the secondary source of media. We should expect then, that as distributors of social knowledge, they play a significant role in our perception and understanding of the boundaries between order and disorder. (Surette, 1998: 11) Because of the importance of media in everyday life, the study of crime and the media becomes a vital concern of sociology and media studies. Since media has the ability to interpret and give meaning to events through dramatization, this places it at the pinnacle of all social institutions in its ability to shape perception and reactions of its readership. It has been criticized over years by enormous sociologist that media is responsible for fomenting moral sensibilities and anxieties about crime and disorder. (Cohen, 1963; Young, 1971; Hall, 1978; Reiner, 1997; Munice:2001) The media manufactured of news (Cohen and Young, 1973/1981), created moral panics (Cohen, 1973) and fear of crime (Gerbner et al: 1980; Carlson: 1985) about folk devils, stigmatized outsiders, and amplified their deviance (Young, 1971) thus legitimating the drift to a law and order society (Hall et al, 1978) and a more authoritarian style of policing the crisis. (ibid.)

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On the Necessity of Justice: An Analysis of Plato's Republic.

On the Necessity of Justice: An Analysis of Plato's Republic Devin Pratt #0131759 January 28, 2003 PHIL 210 Prepared for: David Morris On the Necessity of Justice - an Analysis of Plato's Republic The central theme of Plato's Republic is the question of whether it is better to govern oneself justly, or to behave unjustly. The argument, however, is not proposed to determine whether it is "better" to be just on some abstract moral scale, but rather to determine whether it is truly advantageous in life for a human to love justice and be just. In addition to using examples about justice that explain its advantage, Plato attempts to define justice on its own in order to fully and appropriately deal with the issue at hand. This is not surprising when you take into consideration Plato's belief in the forms. Plato has Socrates trying to prove to his fellow Athenians that the just is truly more advantageous for many reasons. Socrates uses arguments that attempt to show how justice is more advantageous to people while they are on earth, to their soul once they leave earth, and to their subsequent lives that follow. He also attempts to show us how justice is better for a city in order to convince us that justice is a virtue. Although he makes fairly good arguments all around, I am not interested in anything regarding justice as involved in a larger group or the justice

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The case of Sally Clark

Since the high profile cases involving Sally Clark and Angela Cannings, the issue of care proceedings, the standard of proof and use of medical experts in criminal trials has come under much scrutiny in both the press and the courts. This project which is based on a miscarriage of justice shall focus solely on the case of R v Sally Clark (1998) who was wrongly accused by a ten to two majority of murdering her two children and sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime that she quite simply did not commit. Sadly, due to misleading expert advice and flaws in Britain's legal system, three years had passed before her conviction was quashed. This case has highlighted the issue of incompatability between science and our legal system in that regarding 'certainty', the courts require it but science cannot always provide it1. It has taken high profile cases such as that of Sally Clark to bring light to the difficulties that can arise when either applying science or using expert witnesses in the courtroom. In this portfolio, the key events of Sally Clark's case as well as the evidential issues which led to her miscarriage of justice shall be discussed in great detail. The effect that Sally Clark's case has had on the use of expert witnesses in trials also shall be discussed as it had drawn attention to the fact that reform is needed in our legal system to prevent further

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